The Vice President and Minister of Economy Nadia Calviño has acknowledged that the Government of Spain is beginning to consider reducing or eliminating the discount of 20 cents per liter currently in force on automotive fuels.
There is still nothing confirmed, but the Government of Spain is already considering the possibility of not renewing the validity of the 20 cent discount per liter that is currently applied to automotive fuels in our country.
At the moment, its validity is assured Until december 31since it began to be applied on April 1 and was subsequently renewed in July for a limited period until the end of the year.
«The discount or free public transport reaches the whole world and is in line with sustainable transport»
This was a measure originated by the rise in the price of fuel that caused the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February and that 8 months later continues its course. Recently, fuel prices stopped the downward trend that they had experienced in the final third of the summer and since then they have not stopped rising.
The discount of 20 cents, to debate
Despite the fact that fuel prices are far from stabilising, the Government of Spain is considering not renewing its application as of January 1, 2023.
This has been recognized Nadia CalvinoVice President and Minister of Economy who, in statements to Radio Nacional de Españahas pointed out that “We will have to see if sectoral measures are taken, if it has to be maintained for the entire population or focused on a sector or a group that is most affected”.
This means that the Government considers all the possibilities, including a reduction in the application of the discount to certain sectors such as professional transport or certain vulnerable groups.
At the moment, the expense derived from this discount in force since April 1 does not appear in the General State Budgets for 2023. This cost is quite high, since it is estimated at around 1,400 million euros that the Government is not clear about wanting or be able to spend beyond the end of this year 2022.
What does have all the ballots to remain in force throughout the 2023 financial year is the reduction or free public transport, which according to Nadia Calviño “it reaches the whole world and is in line with sustainable transport”.
The General State Budgets, which have already been presented but must be negotiated with the opposition to be approved, include 25,000 million from European funds.
Font: The National